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Conductive Hearing Loss
Caused by problems with the middle ear, eardrum, or ear canal, conductive hearing losses are usually mild or moderate in nature and temporary.
Common causes of conductive hearing loss are ear infections (otitis media), congestion, excess earwax buildup, eardrum perforation, and abnormal structures of the ear.
Depending on the cause of the hearing loss, medical treatment can usually help. Permanent conductive hearing loss can usually be treated with hearing aids.
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Caused by problems in the inner ear (cochlea) or auditory nerve, sensorineural hearing loss can be mild, moderate, severe, or profound and tend to be permanent.
Common causes of sensorineural hearing loss are aging, noise exposure, injury, illness such as meningitis, viral infections, and adverse reaction to some medications. Sensorineural hearing loss can also be hereditary.
Sensorineural hearing loss can usually be helped with hearing aids.
Mixed Hearing Loss
A combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss.
Typically the conductive component is medically treated before consideration is given to the use of hearing aids.
Tinnitus
Pronounced tin-NIGHT-us or TIN-i-tus. It is often described as ringing in the ears, but can also sound like hissing, whooshing, pulsing, chirping, ocean sounds, buzzing, and even music. It can occur intermittently or constantly, can be a faint sound heard only in quiet, or a loud sound heard throughout the day.
Can occur with or without hearing loss and affects over 50 million Americans, as estimated by the American Tinnitus Association.
Can be caused or exaggerated by exposure to loud noises, certain medications, ear or sinus infections, temporomandibular joint misalignment (TMJ), cardiovascular disease, wax build-up in the ear canal, head and neck trauma, and certain types of tumors on the auditory, vestibular, or facial nerves.
There are no known treatments for most causes of tinnitus, but exaggerating conditions, such as earwax, can be treated and there are therapies designed to minimize the effects of tinnitus.
Auditory Processing Disorder
Also known as central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), this disorder effects how the brain processes and interprets auditory information.
The cause for auditory processing disorder is often not known. Children typically have normal hearing and intelligence, but may exhibit some of the following symptoms:
Auditory processing disorder can only be diagnosed by an audiologist using a test battery designed to diagnose the specific area of dysfunction. Treatment usually consists of manipulating the learning environment to minimize effects of the disorder on learning, teaching the child strategies to compensate for areas of weakness, and remediation activities designed to treat the disorder itself.